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What the Birds See
What the Birds See is a 2015 science-fiction novel by Marco L. Schmidt. It is written in a third person limited point of view, with an unreliable narrator who favors the king over the rebels. The novel sticks mostly with the 24-year-old protagonist, Kye Leichter. Kye is a captain in the King's Secret Police, known more commonly as the KRP. She lives in Beyoncica, the capital of Selektra. One morning, she is tasked with an assignment from the king: she and her team have been assigned to watch three citizens of Selektra who he suspects are conspiring against him. She is personally assigned Petra Young, a young, red-blooded college student who the King suspects is an informat to the rebels. As Kye becomes more and more immersed in their lives and the Selektran Liberation Militia, or SLM, she begins to question where her loyalties lie, and the cause she is fighting for. The novel deals heavily with government and media corruption, oppression, the gap between the classes, racism, the public psyche, and poverty. Background This novel is loosely based on the 2006 German film "Das Leben der Anderen", or "The Lives of Others", in which an agent of the Stasi becomes deeply immersed in the life of Georg Dreyman, a playwrite that he is assigned to monitor. Pre-Novel Happenings Before the novel begins, a civil war has been sweeping across the country of Selektra and is slowly closing in on the six wealthiest districts of the nation: Kairo, Mischiko, Andrea, Hellensica, Maro, and Porpae. Radicals of the SLM have been sweeping about the country torturing, raping, and killing those suspected to be supporters of the King, along with anyone who has held office or been a government worker. Plot The novel begins immediately after the death of the previous king of Selektra, King Heilo, and the attempted suicide of Queen Piper II. Characters The main character of What the Birds See ''is Kye Leichter, a twenty-four year old agent of the KRP who is keeping tabs on Petra Young. Kye Leichter: a twenty-four-year-old agent of the KRP. She also works personally for the King as something like a vizier and lives in the royal palace, though she has an apartment in downtown Selektra. Petra Young: a 19-year-old college student who is suspected to be affiliated with the SLM or the Selektran Resistance, There are several other major characters who are equally important as Kye, such as Petra Young, Moria Leichter, King Alois, and Liam Remley. The Voice The narrator of ''What the Birds See ''is never strictly named, though it is acknowledged as a character in the story, as is the reader. The narrator is assumed to live somewhere in Beyoncica, the capital of Selektra, but Forsica could also be a likely location. It is known that the narrator is male, and that he is most likely of higher class than most other Selektrans. He could possibly be an aristocrat, and have something like blue or purple blood. Themes ''What the Birds See deals heavily with many political themes, some of which include media and government corruption and the class gap. It also deals with surveillance.